Ask Us About Our Ninja Disguise

[Donner]

Melanie is going to be sharing my thread this year, as an occasional guest stealth poster. We're going to feed each other a line or an idea or a subject, then both will use that to jump-start a poem. We thought it would be interesting to see what two different people come up with from the same idea, the choices and directions we each decide to take. It won't technically be a collaboration because we won't be consulting with each other, but, rather, an exercise in choices. On the days where we both write, both poems will be posted. (More explanation about our "rules" here if you're curious.)

April 1 - Prompt - The boy wears cool sunglasses, tinted fluorescent yellow
April 2 - Prompt - An old woman once told me that morels always grow / where mayapples bloom
April 3 - Prompt - What I was saying with that last kiss
April 4 - Prompt - I noticed an eyeball spying / through a knothole in the fence
April 5 - Prompt - It was fortunate she knew the words by heart
April 6 - Prompt - There aren’t enough people on earth / for me to love anyone else but you
April 7 - Prompt - I don't want old feet
April 8 - Prompt - I’ve never counted how many times I’ve pulled petals from daisies
April 9 - Prompt - Everyone loves my purse
April 10 - Prompt - Her wishes are the same as her prayers
April 11 - Prompt - She was already wearing enough makeup
April 12 - Prompt - When you see something you’ve never seen before
April 13 - Prompt - Stopping her mouth with her hand
April 14 - Prompt - I lied to a nun today
April 15 - Prompt - I'd rather spend any extra cash in my pocket
April 16 - Prompt - Digging to China
April 17 - Prompt - People younger than me
April 18 - Prompt - After the mud dries
April 19 - Prompt - It's not spring until I see (the) ____________ (in) bloom
April 20 - Prompt - smoke and webs
April 21 - Prompt - I did everything backwards
April 22 - Prompt - because it's true
April 23 - Prompt - The TV and the clock radio
April 24 - Prompt - the season to mow
April 25 - Prompt - found at the dump
April 26 - Prompt - Happy endings are annoying
April 27 - Prompt - buying a lizard
April 28 - Prompt - To live life as an Elvis impersonator
April 29 - Prompt - Where the needle goes
April 30 - Simultaneous One-Word Text Prompts -pillow/Cheetos

Who wrote what

[Rachel Bunting]

I love this idea, Donna - can't wait to see the results!

[Featherless Biped]

What a cool idea! (Do you mind if I copycat you and invite a collaborator along for my thread as well?)

[Donner]

Of course I don't mind. Be my guest!

[Sorella]

Supercool idea, Donna. And Melanie!

Good luck!

[Alexandrite]

Hiiiii--yaahhhh.......

[Andrea345]

I'm so glad to see you were able to pull her out of hiding!
YAY!

[GreaterMandalaofUselessness]

Don't ask me about my ninja disguise ...

[new leaf]

It's the perfect disguise. We won't be able to tell you apart.




Have fun!

[Donner]

I'm so glad to see you were able to pull her out of hiding!
YAY!

Ninjas have their ways.

*sneaksneaksneak*

[W.G.McLeod]

Get out your ninja pen.

[merelynn]

Happy NaPoMo!

[cookala]

wouldn't be the same without you Donner!

[5th column]

First rule of NaPo? NEVER talk about Napo…...

[Donner]

Ha! Here we go, then.

In keeping with our stealthy ninja selves, Melanie and I are going to keep who wrote which poem a secret until the end of the month. I'll post both poems (on the days when we both write - the days we don't, you should be able to figure out who wrote what, ha!). And you can't even be sure in which order I'll post which poem. Some days Melanie will be Ninja #1, some days I will. So, HA!

The rules we set for ourselves are simple - one of us will send the other a prompt for the day and we will both use that to write the poem de jour. The line/idea can be used as the title, as the first line, somewhere in the body of the poem, and can be altered slightly if that works better. ("Boy" could be "boys", for example.) Neither of us will know what the other decides to do with the prompt. Then I'll post them both. Let the games begin.

* * * * *

April 1 Prompt - The boy wears cool sunglasses, tinted fluorescent yellow

Description

The boy wears cool sunglasses, tinted fluorescent yellow.
He wears a cap with a marijuana plant,
but that doesn’t make him bad.

He has a tattoo of angel wings spread
across the flexes of his back with a sweep
of feathers molting down his leg.
Mother will forever be twisted
around his wrist.

The boy has a knife that can slice
Through a body into a mattress spring.
He has a rope that can choke
the voice from a screaming child.

You won’t recognize him
through the glass, strapped
to a gurney while drips of death
tube toward his veins.
No, you can’t affirm it’s him
without the bright sunglasses.
But the devil will know who he is.

* * * * *

Small Town Transit

The dogs come first, charging
through the intersection when it's clear,
then the leashes towing the boy
on a skateboard. It's an urban sled team,
mushing across asphalt instead of snow,
and the kid even wears cool sunglasses, tinted
fluorescent yellow to protect against glare,
cool in that nonchalant way boys are cool
when they want you to notice them, but act
like they don't. But how can you not
notice such cocky joy? A bus ride across town
costs just 50 cents, but he'd rather put his trust
in 8 legs, 4 wheels and the free breeze
than a set route and the bus driver.